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"'Am I a person?' Borne asks Rachel, in extremis. 'Yes, you are a person,' Rachel tells him. 'But like a person, you can be a weapon, too.' In a ruined, nameless city of the future, Rachel makes her living as a scavenger. She finds a creature she names Borne entangled in the fur of Mord, a gigantic despotic bear that once prowled the corridors of a biotech firm, the Company, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly, and broke free. Made insane by the company's torture of him, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers. At first, Borne looks like nothing at all--just a green lump that might be a discard from the Company, which, although severely damaged, is rumored to still make creatures and send them to far-distant places that have not yet suffered collapse. Borne reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment that she resents: attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick--a special kind of dealer--not to render down Borne as raw genetic material for the drugs he sells. But nothing is quite the way it seems: not the past, not the present, not the future. If Wick is hiding secrets, so is Rachel--and Borne most of all. What Rachel finds hidden deep within the Company will change everything and everyone. There, lost and forgotten things have lingered and grown. What they have grown into is mighty indeed"-- "From the author of the Southern Reach Trilogy comes a story about two humans, and two creatures. The humans are Rachel and Wick - a scavenger and a drug dealer - both with too many secrets and fears, ready with traps to be set and sprung. The creatures are Mord and Borne - animal, perhaps plant, maybe company discard, biotech, cruel experiment, dinner, deity, or source of spare parts"--… (more)
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Rachel is a twenty-six-year-old woman making her living as a scavenger in a nameless city. The city once played host to the Company, which created all sorts of biotech. Ultimately, the
I skipped out on reading Borne when it was first released. I think I thought it would be too strange. Well, Borne‘s plenty weird but in a good way. I loved the post-apocalyptic setting VanderMeer created. It felt creative and original. I mean, where else have you read about a giant flying bear? It’s the use of biotech and ecology that really gave the setting it’s own flavor. Environmental focuses are something VanderMeer does so well, and you can really see it with Borne.
Borne has a highly limited cast. While you may see a few other scavengers among the ruins of the nameless city, really there’s only three major characters: Rachel, Wick, and Borne. The only other characters who could even count are Mord himself and his nemesis, the Magician, Wick’s rival in city. The limited cast works well for Borne, allowing each of the three main characters to develop complexity. Rachel is a strong protagonist, and I loved her memories of the past, the islands she grew up on, and the times with her parents before the world entirely collapsed.
However, the heart of the book is the relationship between Rachel and Borne, her monstrous child. In a way, it reminded me of The Girl with All the Gifts. Rachel knows that Borne might be dangerous, but she can’t bring herself to stop loving him. Borne might not be human, but Rachel tells him that he’s still a person.
“We all just want to be people, and none of us know what that really means.”
Borne is eerie and melancholy, but somehow still hopeful and loving, filled with a complexity that is oh so human. I highly recommend it.
As a child, Rachel survived the inundation and destruction of her island nation and then many years in refugee camps. Her parents are now dead, and she has been in the City for 6 years. "City" is a euphemism, for little is left of a previously large and inhabited place, devastated by the biotech creations of the Company. This shadowy group unleashed on the City the results of its many failed experiments, some violent and poisonous, ending in the Company's own destruction. Most horrendous of their creations is Mord, a multi-story-high bear-like creature which rampages through the city, or flies over it, eating and destroying whatever he finds. Most water is poisonous and there is little food. Part of the city is run by the Magician, who continues to create biotech in her quest to kill Mord. Rachel lives in a warren of corridors and rooms on a hillside, aided in her survival by Wick, a biotech engineer himself who teaches her to develop ways to hide their entrances from those outside. While Wick works on creating enough food for them to live and medicine so that he does not die, Rachel scavenges in the city's ruins, bringing home anything she finds of interest. One day she comes upon what appears to be a fist-sized ocean plant clinging to the sleeping Mord, whose fur often collects oddities on his travels. Rachel names the thing Borne (and decides it's a male) and refuses to turn him over to Wick, not realizing for a few days that he can move on his own and speak. Borne can also shape-shift, and his growth and learning take place at such an astounding rate that within a few months he's coming and going to the outside world on his own, doing things Rachel cannot discover. He constantly asks for assurance that's he's a "person", never quite trusting Rachel's answers. He eats literally anything (furniture, spiders, other living and inanimate objects). Rachel and Wick's relationship suffers from her attention to Borne and from Wick's antipathy towards him, but events in the City are even more dangerous, as the Magician makes her move against Mord with her weapons and hoards of biotech creations.
The story is full of delightful surprises, but most fascinating is the character of the ever-changing Borne, whose nature is directly opposed to the nurture Rachel provides. Their relationship, and how it affects the future of the City, is what compels the action to a satisfying conclusion that answers many questions and brings the memorable Borne's life work to a dramatic crescendo. Very highly recommended.
^^ Rachel's a scavenger trying to survive in a destroyed world that is littered with biotech experiments the Company have discarded and nothing is ever what it seems. She meets Wick who makes his own way, by dealing with all sorts of
ng quite huge and alien. Yet despite his quirkiness Rachel and Borne become attached; like mother and child. What can become of such a relationship in a world where survival is everyone's priority?
^^ Borne. How to explain Borne? He waffles between childlike and adult states as he finds his way around Rachel's world. He can morph into objects and people, but without these disguises he forms a six-foot hybrid of a squid and a sea anemone with a ring of circling eyes. In short, he's a fascinating, shape-shifting character, and one Rachel takes it upon herself to teach the ways of the world. One he is clearly not used to living in.
^^ Then there's the giant grizzly God-Bear called Mord, the Magician, the poison rains, memory beetles, and the odd discarded biotech that could cause death or discomfort.
^^ I quite liked how this book is split into three parts, and each part/chapter has a sub title relating to the next part of the story.
^^ U
nderneath the surface of this post-apocalyptic tale of survival, there is something more. Something deeper. You'll see it as you read through. Maybe the author is writing of a world not so alien after all. If you read in between the lines, is our society so different? Do we teach our children what is best, only to have them go their own way as soon as they have a mind of their own? If you look closer, there are so many similarities to modern life as we know it today. It's a kind of charming, yet terrifying read all rolled into one.
^^ This is a great book for any fan of fantasy and science fiction set in a dystopian world, where technology and the supernatural intertwine.
Overall: VanderMeer's dystopian world is a weird and wonderful mix creative strange characters, a fascinating mind and world-building skills. I've never read anything quite like it!
Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC copy.
"Borne" has been so widely reviewed there is little else that I can add. I think it is important to note that the publisher's blurbs saying that this is a book built on an environmental catastrophe are wrong. This is a book about
I received a review copy of "Borne" by Jeff VanderMeer (HarperCollins UK, 4th Estate) through NetGalley.com.
I don't care what any other reader thinks. Bourne is my precious baby, and I love him. Other than that, I emerged from my first delve into the "new weird" with a somewhat healthy appreciation. Though, at times it lost me, but that's more due to my inability to visualize certain things. However,
You know, I can't quite decide if this book is more or less weird
Still, even if it's not perfect, Borne is really interesting, at times even compelling, and the title character is fun, in his own bizarre and occasionally disturbing way. Plus, that giant flying bear is astonishingly well-realized. I don't know that everything makes huge amounts of sense in the end, and while various things are a little bit explained, I'm not sure anything at all is fully explained. But I wasn't really expecting anything different, so I was okay with that.
Rating: Things like this are kind of hard to rate, but I'm going to give it 4/5, just for being the interesting read it was.
I like weird, and VanderMeer certainly delivers in this regard. There are some fantastic dialogs between Borne (the shape-shifting entity) and Rachel (the main character and narrator) and the world
It's still a good read!
Borne is a being found by a young woman named Rachel. She names the creature Borne because she considers him/it her child. Borne learns very quickly and helps Rachel stay alive in the city. The word "borne" is also the past participle of the word bear (to carry) and this has significance in the story.
I had problems with the author's descriptions of some of the biotech. He was vague enough on some of it that I found it hard to picture. It made the story a little less believable, but I still liked the book.
This is a story about what a person is and how a person is made. It is a fairy tale, with a quest and a battle and possibly a happy ending. What I enjoy about VanderMeer's writing is the strangeness of his imagination, and yet how he makes that strangeness accessible to readers like me. Although I did not enjoy Borne as much as I did the Southern Reach trilogy, I found it thoroughly absorbing, a compelling story set in a strange and magical, yet familiar, world.
I am excited to read the upcoming short stories set in this world.
At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still make creatures and send them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse.
Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment she resents; attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, the Balcony Cliffs, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick, not to render Borne down to raw genetic material for the drugs he sells—she cannot break that bond.
Wick is a special kind of supplier, because the drug dealers in the city don’t sell the usual things. They sell tiny creatures that can be swallowed or stuck in the ear, and that release powerful memories of other people’s happier times or pull out forgotten memories from the user’s own mind—or just produce beautiful visions that provide escape from the barren, craterous landscapes of the city.
MY THOUGHTS:
I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
A once surreal, futuristic world now bleak and ruined, good only for scavenging (our future?), is the home of our three main characters, including Borne. A Company thought gone, but not, and a huge bear with an attitude for destruction and rage.
I was sold on this book when I first heard it was coming out. My only fear was that, like many books that have disappointed me, I was listening to the marketing and hype. So I asked and asked for the book, looked everywhere for it and couldn’t seem to get my hands on it. It came out in stores and I juggled the idea of whether to buy it or not, sight unseen…
Then, the publisher graciously sent it to me, signed bookmark included!!!!!! It was wonderful! I did a happy dance. So here the book was resting gently in my hands. I ran my fingers over the gorgeous cover, petting the darn thing like it was a newly found kitten. I felt like an idiot.
I kept the book on my shelf, staring at the lovely colours and wondering if the rest of the book’s shelf existence could just be this, me gawking wistfully, it sitting gloriously. Day by day, it sat . Finally, I reminded myself that the publisher was waiting on a review… oh no, THAT… inevitable review where all my hopes and dreams could be shattered just from me opening the book and reading from the beginning. It was time to pick up the book (pet the cover some more), open it, and actually READ the darn thing. I was nervous.
My palms were sweaty. I touched my forehead and when I examined my fingertips, they too were covered with perspiration (ladies don’t SWEAT). It was the moment of truth, but I just couldn’t make myself open the cover. So I flipped the book over and read the back jacket again. It was exactly as I remembered it, I thought with joy while hugging the book to my chest.
But, I had a responsibility… With a stupid Cheshire cat grin on my face, listening to my dog farting at my feet, I turned the book over and with great care, opened the cover.
IT WAS FANTASTIC! OMG!
The end.
This book is a dystopian book, set in some near future time when the world has been wrecked by companies who destroy the ecology, create biotech and the political and cultural structure has collapsed. The protagonist is Rachel, who doesn't really have full recall of how she ended up here. She works as a scavenger for her lover Wick. Rachel finds Borne one day and brings him home. Borne is like a child for Rachel. The child comes between she and Wick. She begins to have secrets from Wick. Wick has secrets from Rachel. So this would be your standard triangle of mother, father and child. Then there is the monster, a giant biotech bear called Mord who is huge, flies and crushes and devours. And there is the Magician who is trying to take control of everything; the company, Wick, etc.
I do love the author's sense of humor but he also offers up insights into relationships, secrets, and faithfulness. It is definitely weird and gruesome with everyone scavenging and eating what ever and most of it sounds quite awful but also a book of hope. Vandermeer grew up in Fiji and that experience does inform the book where he talks about "smell of brine", "tidal pools of my youth".
I
What I found was a unique story of a kind of patchwork family in a post-apocalyptic city (not particularly novel) ruled by a giant flying bear (very unusual) and a Magician. Strange biotech everywhere.
Is this Fantasy, Science-Fiction, all of it? Does it matter?
The ending worked for me although it leaves some things unanswered - which somehow reminds me of Annihilation. I guess if you liked Annihilation's writing style, you will also like Borne.
This was my second book by Jeff and I read both in English - which I do with a lot of novels - but have to admit it was not always easy. This is no critism of the language used, I just felt I couldn't fully appreciate all the details of the prose. Maybe I need to reread this one as a German translation or grab a German copy of Jeff's next book - which I surely will be looking forward to.
In addition to being the convoluted story of these three and the ravaged city they live in, it is also a meditation on what a person is and how trust, distrust, secrets, love, and forgiveness mingle in our lives, and the strange places that give rise to (or bear) hope.
Another odd science fiction-y story from Vandermeer. Here he presents a post-apocalyptic world of biotech that is effectively ruled by a giant flying bear and its venomous proxies--failed attempts at something by The Company (which is no more, though the building and biotech holding tanks
I much prefer the ending to this one over the ending of his Southern Reach Trilogy, but I wish this ending had been explained more fully. Was the change in weather after the Borne/Mord battle and the Magician's death a coincidence? Or had something/someone blocked rain and once they were dead rain returned? Was it a company thing? And how did the city begin to evolve after Mord was gone--was there no faction elsewhere that would come take over? It sounds like it is becoming "nice", with veggies and all.